10-Minute Plays for Teens by Teens, Volume III

work.

INTRODUCTION

What you have here is a whole bunch of new plays written by the teenaged playwright. Writing for teens can be difficult if you’re no longer of a certain age. And as much as I pride myself into thinking that I am young and hip and cool… the fact of the matter is, I’m not sixteen anymore. That’s probably a good thing. But to write material for this age group can be challenging. So I went to the source. The plays found here are written by playwrights fourteen to twenty years old. The subject matters are diverse, the voices are distinct, and the eclectic genres will provide considerable challenges for young actors.

Immediate gratification can be a good thing. If you get bored with a 10-minute play, hang in there, because another one is on its way. It’s like switching channels on a television set. However, I feel confident that the plays in this book will not bore you, but delight you. Enjoy reading them, acting in them, and if they inspire you, you might find yourself writing one of your own!

Debbie Lamedman

CAMP MAZEL TOV

6M, 3F

By Nathalie Kohen

Laguna Beach High School

Laguna Beach, California

Characters

MENDEL: Camper. Cynical, apathetic to camp.

SHMUEL: Camp counselor. Depressed, overexerts himself.

SHEILA: Camp counselor. Stressed, frantic, nerdy.

REBECCA: Camper. Jewish American Princess; bossy.

SHARONA: Camper. Rebecca’s sidekick; ditzy, nerdy.

ELI: Camper. Sarcastic.

JACOB: Camper. Weird, horny.

YOSI: Camper. The good Jew; always follows rules.

ADAM: Camper. Rebecca’s boyfriend; stud, emotional.

Setting

A camp for Jewish adolescents.

CAMP MAZEL TOV

SCENE 1

SHEILA: One summer camp, solitary in denomination

In fair Malibu, where we lay our scene

From Jewish tradition break the unconventional

When hormones possess the selfish teen

From forth the departure of Manischewitz wine

Homesick children await the day

When Hebrew songs are sung in English

And eating is done free of prayer

Does their hunger bury their religious faith?

Or indifference to such bonding days

There is but one reason they do submit

To Camp Mazel Tov’s diminished craze

The star-crossed campers, thousands abound

Make their annual glory on holy campground

SCENE 2

MENDEL: (Robotically.) But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already —

SHMUEL: Stop, stop, stop the scene! Mendel Teitlebaum this is about love! Why are you staring at her breasts? Now look into Juliet’s eyes… Feel the passion. Try it again. Take it from the top. (Mumbles.) We should have done Fiddler on the Roof…

MENDEL: (Worse than before.) But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east —

(Enter Camp Counselor Sheila Horowitz.)

SHEILA: (Frantically.) Shmuel! Senior Maccabi is throwing their matzo balls at the Junior Maccabi!

SHMUEL: Are they doing that damn initiation again?

SHEILA: I think so. We have to hurry. Little Yentel and her sisters are starting to look like dinner, and Michael Bruchim just lit the papier-mâché menorah on fire!

SHMUEL: The chutzpah! Mendel, Sharona, Rebecca, Yosi, Eli, Jacob—stay here. Look over your script and get it right. I’ll be back in a minute.

(Exit Sheila and Shmuel.)

SCENE 3

REBECCA: I’m not going to stay here. I could be with my boyfriend. Besides, Eli, you smell.

ELI: I’m sorry we can’t all be Rebecca Miller — The Rabbi’s Daughter.

REBECCA: My father isn’t a rabbi idiot. He’s one of the most respected cantors in all of Los Angeles!

JACOB: Who’s the boyfriend this week, Becky?

REBECCA: Adam Cohen

JACOB: Which one? There are five…

REBECCA: Brown hair, tall, pasty, smart, rich. (Smiles at Sharona.)

MENDEL: That narrows it down

REBECCA: Yeah, we are in love. He gave me his bar-mitzvah pendant yesterday. He told me that he loves me. As long as I wear it, I’m his Juliet and he is my Romeo.

ELI: (Laughs.) I hope the story ends the same way.

REBECCA: For your information, we are staying together.

ELI: He goes to boarding school in New York.

REBECCA: (Blatant look.) Your point being…?

ELI: Boys, I’m out. They are giving away challah rolls by the dining hall.

(Exit Eli.)

SCENE 4

REBECCA: Uch, he is so annoying.

SHARONA: I know. The other day I told him that his green polo didn’t match his blue pants and he laughed at me.

MENDEL: They were jeans, Sharona.

SHARONA: So? Blue and green obviously clash.

REBECCA: OK, so I was thinking I should make Adam a card.

SHARONA: For what?

REBECCA: He’s leading the boy’s Senior Maccabi Shabbos service tonight!

(Sharona looks at her questioningly.)

REBECCA: I want to wish him good luck!

SHARONA: Can I come help?

REBECCA: If you promise not to tell everyone that we hung out. Jacob, darling, will you be a doll and tell Shmuel the Mule that we went on a run to the bathroom if he comes back?

JACOB: (Doubtfully.) Yeah, but uh, what’s going on in the bathroom? What are the girls doing in there?

(Exit Rebecca and Sharona.)

SCENE 5

MENDEL: Rebecca is so hot.

JACOB: Yeah, but she’s a JAP.

MENDEL: Clearly. JAPs are hot.

YOSI: I think you meant to say Jewish American Princess, but nonetheless using the word JAP can be highly offensive to Jews and to the Japanese.

JACOB: I think Jeff Goldblum is hot.

MENDEL: The actor?

JACOB: Yeah.

MENDEL: Well… he’s married.

YOSI: Well, only for religious purposes (Giggles.)

JACOB: Do you think Shmuel is coming back?

MENDEL: I hope not. I’m sick of playing Romeo. I didn’t even choose drama as my elective. I wanted Israeli dancing. Jacob, we should go. Shmuel isn’t going to come back in a long time. The Junior Maccabi are going through initiation; you remember how long that takes?

JACOB: Yeah, they spent an hour watching me dance the hora in my underwear in the girls’ cabin.

YOSI: They should have been kicked out of camp for that!

JACOB: It’s OK. I’ll do it when I’m a senior.

YOSI: I won’t. I’m not going to ruin the healthy Jewish experience that these kids should be having.

JACOB: The hora is a Jewish experience.

YOSI: I’m going to get ready for dinner. Don’t be late. Shabbos services start at seven-thirty tonight!

SCENE 6

JACOB: Let’s ditch services tonight and go through the girls’ cabin.

MENDEL: Why would I do that?

JACOB: Dude, the girls’ cabin…

MENDEL: Point being…

JACOB: (Angrily.) Does there always have to be a point with you!? Gosh.

(Exit Jacob.)

SCENE 7

Mendel gets up to leave. Enter Shmuel.

SHMUEL: (Out of breath.) OK guys, I just settled everyone with the matzo balls; Yentel and her sisters are fine — Mendel, why are you the only one left?

MENDEL: I think they’re all in the bathroom (Begins to leave.)

SHMUEL: Where are you going?

MENDEL: The bathroom

SHMUEL: OK, well hurry back. Tell the others that they need to come back in five minutes.

(Exit Mendel.)

SHMUEL: (Depressingly.) I spent four years at Yeshiva University. I spent another four years at Yale. Forty thousand dollars times eight! And what do I get for eight years of tests and three hundred and twenty thousand dollars? Shakespeare and matzo balls! I try my hardest to give these kids the Jewish love they deserve. Three years at Camp Mazel Tov, and I’m still just Shmuel the Mule! It’s a sick world with teenagers, especially Jewish ones.

(Exit Shmuel.)

SCENE 8

Enter Rebecca and Adam Cohen. They are giggling behind the curtain.

ADAM: No one’s in the drama room.

(More giggling, and Rebecca bites Adam’s tongue.)

ADAM: Ouch!

REBECCA: What?

ADAM: (As if he had a speech impediment.) You bit my tongue.

REBECCA: Oh, sorry.

ADAM: Let’s make out in here.

REBECCA: Right, but Adam, say it to me once more.

ADAM: (Pause.) Uhhh… let’s make out in here.

REBECCA: No, I want to hear you say what you said before that again. Three words that ring a bell…

ADAM: (Thinks.) You bit my tongue?

REBECCA: Adam, that’s four words. Your father doesn’t send you to private school for nothing.

ADAM: I honestly don’t know what you want to hear from me, Rebecca. One day you want to hear me say how fat you are, the next day you want to hear me say how skinny you are. Then you ask me to tell you how real your Tiffany’s bracelet looks…

REBECCA: It is real!

ADAM: Like I said, it’s real!

REBECCA: Are you trying to tell me that I am wearing knockoffs?

ADAM: No, I’m not saying that. I was using it as an example.

REBECCA: You know what, Adam? I’m going to go. When you remember what it was that you were supposed to say to me, you know where to find me.

ADAM: Where?

REBECCA: Ugh!

(Exit Rebecca.)

SCENE 9

Enter Jacob and Eli.

JACOB: (Walking into drama room.) OK, so at eight o’clock when services start, we’ll raid the girls’ tent.

ELI: Yeah, but which one?

JACOB: We’ll choose the messiest. Messy girls are hot.

ADAM: I think Rebecca just broke up with me.

ELI: Why?

ADAM: I think it was something I said… or didn’t say.

ELI: Make it up to her

ADAM: (Depressed.) I don’t know what she wants from me. She wants me to be her Romeo or something. Something with three words…

ELI: Get Mendel to help you. He’s great with Shakespeare.

ADAM: I think that’s what she wanted. Chicks like Shakespeare. She probably meant something about Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo?

JACOB: That’s six words

ADAM: We can cut it down to three. Think it might work?

ELI: Sure man. I’ll get Mendel. Sit tight.

(Exit Eli.)

JACOB: So what were you guys doing in here? Making out?

(Enter Mendel.)

ADAM: Mendel, buddy! I need a favor.

MENDEL: Yeah, what?

ADAM: I need to say a really nice poem to Rebecca so that she’ll take me back. Like, Romeo and Juliet or something.

MENDEL: Take my part in the drama production.

ADAM: And then what?

MENDEL: Well, uh, when your line comes that starts with Juliet is the east, replace Juliet’s name with her name. (Chuckles.)

ADAM: But then Romeo will fall in love with Rebecca. Rebecca’s mine.

MENDEL: You want her to like you, right?

ADAM: Yeah

MENDEL: Then just listen to me. Do it for your own sake.

(Exit Mendel, Jacob, Eli, and Adam.)

SCENE 10

Next day at rehearsal.

SHMUEL: (Tired.) Where’s Mendel?

ADAM: He’s in the bathroom. I’m going to fill in for him today.

SHMUEL: Who are you? Never mind, I don’t even care anymore. Let’s just get the scene done. I just want to…

REBECCA: If you think that walking in on me acting is going to make me like you again you can…

ADAM: (Passionately delivered.) But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Rebecca is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon

(Pause.)

REBECCA: Oh, Adam! I love you! My little mensch!

SHMUEL: Baruch hashem! Baruch hashem!

YOSI: The messiah!

(Cast sings song and sways while holding hands. Mendel walks past stage without notice.)

MENDEL: A glooming peace this morning with it brings;

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:

Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;

Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished:

For never was a story of more woe

Than this gift from God

Camp Mazel Tov

END OF PLAY

BETWEEN MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS

2F

By Caress Zepeda

California High School

Whittier, California

Characters

MOTHER (DANA): Late thirties; typical stressed-out mom; tired with dark circles under her eyes, hair a little messy; clothes look a little dated.

DAUGHTER (ALEX): Sixteen years old; typical angry teenage girl; dark eyeliner and shadow, lip piercing, hair in face; ripped jeans, tank top, and a worn navy hoodie.

Setting

A therapist’s office with a desk, couch, and chair. The therapist desk is right in front of the audience, making the audience the therapist. Daughter will lie on couch and talk; Mother will sit on chair and talk.

BETWEEN MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS

Mother is sitting in chair in front of desk. Daughter is lying on couch behind and to the right of Mother. Cue lights to shine on each character only when they speak.

MOTHER: (Very loving, proudly.) When I was pregnant with my daughter Alex, I was so excited. I couldn’t wait for my little girl to arrive. I would stare at the calendar and cross off each day that passed until she was born. I knew I would be a wonderful mother and that my little Alex would love me as much as I loved her. We were gonna be best friends!

DAUGHTER: (Irritated.) Your mother cannot be your best friend. What was she thinking? Do you really think that your mom